The Moorlands Railway Sports & Social Club, home of Lincoln Moorlands Railway based in Lincolnshire and play their trade in the Lincolnshire League. Also the home of Lincoln City Women who this blog will be based upon and they compete in the Women’s National League Division One Midlands. A big one tonight as they face Doncaster Rovers Belles in what could prove to be significant in who wins the league at the end of the season with Belles 10 points clear but Lincoln with 3 games in hand. Unmissable!! And unmissable for the Merry Miller who will be joining me this time!! He’s not missing out again!! Match Days Joe will be there on media duties too!
Now to go and fetch the Merry Miller! Let’s do this!! Now for the drive to Lincoln. Straight down the A1 onto the A46 and here we are… Oh wait wrong turn… But what a lovely housing estate this is!! So how do we get in here? Time to call for backup! “Ring Ring” Match Days Joe: “Hello!” Me: “How’s it going mate! Where do we park here?” Match Days Joe: “In the ground mate…” Yeah thanks for that… Me: “How do we get in?” Match Days Joe: “It’s the left after the nice housing estate.” Found it… But not the easiest ground to find nevertheless we are here!
£4 for this potential title decider! UNMISSABLE!! Match Days Joe is here! Game on! My third time watching the Belles this season with the previous 2 resulting in a 1-0 loss for the Belles… Will it be third time lucky for me? Or am I really a bad luck charm for the Belles…? Let’s find out!
Kick Off! 3 minutes in and Lincoln come forward, Jess Rousseau has the ball on the edge of the box, she goes for goal… Good diving save by the Belles keeper! 9 minutes now and Lincoln come again, Chantelle Robinson gets onto it and she gets into the box on the right, she goes for the near post… Good save by the keeper and it’s a corner for Lincoln, in it comes… Cleared by the Belles.
14th minute now and it’s a good start for Lincoln here! They play a ball forward to Leah Hardy, she gets past the defender and gets into the box, she goes for it… Oooooh! Just wide! So close! 2 minutes later and Chantelle Robinson drives into the box from the right hand side and out comes the keeper… It’s played across goal… Cleared by the Belles! Great last ditch defending there! It’s a corner for Lincoln, in it comes… Goal line scramble… And the Belles clear the danger.
18 minutes on the clock and Lincoln play a long ball forward, it comes towards Lauryn Wilcock and out comes the keeper… Wilcock gets to it and gets past the keeper… She’s got the goal at her mercy here… She doesn’t miss!!! Lincoln have the lead!! 1-0!!
Great to meet 2 travelling Doncaster Rovers fans here tonight! With one of them bringing his lucky gnome!! 21 minutes now and Doncaster Belles come forward down the right wing, it’s crossed in, it’s Lily Wishart with the header… Over! Better from the Belles!! Half an hour gone and the Belles come forward down the left wing now, it’s played across to Lindsey Tugby, she’s 25 yards out and she goes for goal… That’s going in… Oh no it’s not… It’s hit the bar! So close but that definitely looked in from my view there!
A quiet spell in the game now with both teams having the ball but no creation of any chances. 42nd minute and the Belles have a throw in on the right, it’s played in, Belles get it and cross it, it comes to Lily Wishart… She’s controlled that with her arm and the keeper collects. 2 minutes later and Lincoln come forward again now, Jess Rousseau has it on the right flank, she gets into the box and plays it across… It’s blocked but it comes back to her on her left foot to shoot… She’s hit the bar!! It’s out for a goal kick. At half time, the score is 1-0… Just like my previous 2 times watching the Belles this season… Match Days Joe: “You’re barred mate if we lose!”
Second half… Belles straight out of the blocks! They get the ball into the box, it comes to the back post and here comes the shot… Blocked! It’s loose… Belles shoot again… Blocked again by Tilly Fantom of all people! The former Doncaster Belles player.
50th minute and Lincoln get the ball out wide to the left to Lauryn Wilcock, she gets into the box and shoots… Good block but Wilcock gets it back to shoot again… Side netting. 54 minutes now and Nadia Khan has it and drives to the edge of the box, she plays it in to Lily Wishart… She’s brought down… Referee waves it away! That’s a shocking decision! Definite Penalty for me there! The Belles are furious along with the travelling fans!
1 minute later and Lincoln play a ball forward… Oh no! Confusion between the Belles keeper and defender and Chantelle Robinson will surely score… She does!! 2-0!! It could have been so different had the Referee made the right call…
Can the Belles mount a fightback here…? It’s not looking likely so far as they are losing the physical battle and are resorting to shooting from long range unrealistically… 79th minute and Lincoln have a free kick just outside the box, it’s played into the box… Cleared by the Belles.
The Belles are struggling to break down this Lincoln defence here in the last 10 minutes… Nadia Khan’s pace is causing problems but there isn’t enough of a gamble from the Belles frontline to get bodies in the box… Into stoppage time and the Belles have it down the right, it’s crossed in, it comes to Lindsey Tugby… Shot blocked but she gets it back and she’s forced out to the left, she wins a throw in… The Referee blows for full time! A massive win for Lincoln! A damaging defeat for the Belles… Am I really a bad luck charm…?
FT: Lincoln City Women 2-0 Doncaster Rovers Belles
Ratings
- Atmosphere: 1/10 – A few here tonight but no noise sadly.
- The Ground: 5.5/10 – It’s not too bad! It certainly is about right for the Northern Counties that Lincoln Moorlands used to participate in! Certainly good for the level that they are in now! I like the stands but I’m not too keen on the positioning of the Stuart Gordon Memorial Stand which does have a restricted view of the far left wing…
- Expense: 10/10 – £4 is fabulous! An added bonus of a tray of chips and 2 sausage rolls for £2 as well! Fantastic!
- Overall Experience: 8.5/10 – Great to see the Merry Miller and Match Days Joe as always but great to meet the travelling Doncaster Rovers fans here tonight who also share our love for groundhopping a little bit!! Not the best of games but the best part of the hobby has struck again tonight!!
25/40